Laurai Katana
Laurai "Steele" Katana (born Laura Goyang Fedorov) is one of the main characters of the Tanklore Series. She is an ayakashi-human female hybrid that was sworn to protect Tank after being saved from a bullet. After living a life of crime and destitution, the Selodo family had taken her in and given her the opportunity to turn her life around for the better. Appearance Laurai appears as a young catgirl in her young adult years with a curvy figure, black cat ears and tail. She has long black hair that goes down to her waist and has bangs pushed to one side of her face. Her eyes are a fire-coloured gradient, with red on the bottom, transitioning to yellow as it moves upwards, with different shades of orange in the centre. The top row of her teeth possess 2 fangs, as cats usually do. Her usual outfit consists of a red tube top, red miniskirt and a belt around her waist with a gold buckle. She wears a white pearl necklace with a single green magatama, which can glow in the dark and black rubber boots that go up to her knees, paired with long, black rubber gloves. In preparation for battles, she usually straps a katana onto her back, and the strap is also used to hold up to 4 knives across her chest, either for throwing or for close quarters combat. Her formal attire consists of a tightly-fitted black suit, black office miniskirt and the usual knee-high boots. With it, she would also wear a white undershirt and a black tie. On sunny days, she would also wear sunglasses to go with her formal wear. Personality The highlights of her personality are kindness, respect and honour. Predominantly, Laurai possesses a positive, cheerful, playful and uplifting demeanour while being very considerate about others’ feelings. She will however, not hesitate to use assertiveness if she feels that the situation calls for it, as she recognizes the importance of completing tasks effectively and efficiently. She likes to maintain a healthy and consistent balance between working and relaxation. When she is tending to her responsibilities, she takes her duties VERY seriously. In fact, when it comes to protecting her loved ones, she will cast aside her kind, respectful and honourable nature and become cold, ruthless and extremely aggressive if provoked. History Laurai was born to a disgruntled Russian soldier who had deserted his position, and a North Korean Bakeneko Ayakashi that had managed to escape the infamous Hoeryong concentration camp (more commonly known as North Korean prison camp No. 22). According to Russian and Ukrainian police reports, the couple had managed to evade authorities throughout their journey across Siberia, into Ukraine and ultimately ending up in the site where the Chernobyl nuclear disaster took place. Sometime after Laurai's birth, her father dies from Chernobyl radiation, and her mother is left to raise Laurai all by her lonesome. A month and a half later, Laurai and her mother were found in the abandoned ruins of an apartment building by a Demonic Rebellion military force, led by Heillos Panzerfaust. The following day, Heillos arranges for Laurai to be transported to a demonic research facility for biological experimentation, to which her mother protested against and was killed by Heillos' soldiers. In the following month, Laurai had undergone various genetic experiments within a demonic research facility located on a remote island in Southern Philippines. Her DNA was extracted and used to artificially produce a clone named Laura-ii. This is where the "i" in Laurai's name came from; she was the original "Laura", so her name was followed by the roman numeral for "1" and thus, was known as Laura-i by her handlers. Laura-ii is her cloned sister, as denoted by her name being followed by the roman numeral for "2"; she would would later be known as "Kanna" by her handlers. Heillos was kept updated on the developments of these newborns, and decided to personally oversee their growth himself. He ordered all life-threatening experimentation tests on Laurai and Kanna to cease, opting to raise them into living, breathing weapons of warfare. All throughout her childhood, Laurai had been trained to use swords, knives, other improvised weapons and even hand to hand combat. Her physical strength grew and so did her desire to rebel against the demonic forces that had been holding her captive. It was not until the age of 10, when she finally found the opportunity to break free from the demonic research facility, killing the guards and scientists that got in her way. Unfortunately in the midst of all the chaos, she had to leave her cloned sister Kanna behind. For the next 4 years, she would be on the run from demonic authorities trying to recapture her. The Philippine police force was also searching for her, as she had resorted to a life of crime to get by. Other than stealing food from stores and picking people's pockets, she would also sit by school windows and listen to lectures. Occasionally she would break into schools at night to steal books in order to educate herself, causing her to become even more efficient with her crimes. Her life takes a drastic turn as she was chased by demonic soldiers through a forest, where Joseph jumps in front of her and saves her from a bullet. Since then, Laurai had sworn to Joseph's grandparents that she would be his guardian. She lived with Joseph in the Selodo household within the Philippines, taking part in demon hunting missions and helping Joseph with his military training. Eventually, the Philippines was plunged into a civil war, prompting Joseph to be evacuated from the country as Laurai stayed behind to fight in what would later be known as the New People's Revolution. A year later, Laurai reunites with Joseph (later known as "Tank" by his organization) and joins the Federation Alliance in the midst of the Great Demon War of '09. As the Federation Alliance becomes the Greater World Federation, she continues to serve as Tank's professional assistant, as well as love interest. Abilities * Eagle Eyes: Has pinpoint accuracy when using thrown weapons and firearms. * Polyglot: Is fluent in Russian and all East & Southeast-Asian Languages. * Fast Learner: Studious nature allows for easier absorption of knowledge/information. * Frost Resistant: Resistant to the cold; is capable of running through Antarctica Naked. * Massive Strength: Is capable of turning over cars single-handedly. * Inhuman Speed: Can run as fast as 130km/h at full speed; beyond that of a cheetah. * Superjump: Demonstrates the ability to jump extremely high and from rooftop to rooftop. * Quick Reflexes: Can sense sudden shifts in the wind to detect fast-moving objects. * Martial Arts Master: Has mastered every single martial art ever devised by humans. * Sharp Hearing: Possesses the ability to determine the source of sounds at great distance. * Night Vision: Her eyes glow with bright fiery colours in darkness, allowing her to see. * Master Chef: Is able to demonstrate exemplary culinary skills, even safely preparing Fugu. Relationships Laurai is a loyalist when it comes to those that have shown her a great deal of love and hospitality, which is why she predominantly closes her personal and intimate side off from people other than Tank and his family. Around them, she is grateful, affectionate and spontaneous. But around others, she is formal, professional and just warm enough to be suitable for political positions, duties and responsibilities. 'Tank Titanium' Ever since Tank saved her from a bullet in the summer of 2008, Laurai has been eternally grateful and affectionate towards him. She ardently embraces the position of being Tank's guardian, as granted to her by Tank's grandmother Lydia, and would risk her entire life to protect him. Tank is fully aware of Laurai's feelings; and as a result, he devotes a considerable amount of time and effort to ensure that her feelings are requited, even if it means pushing aside his innate nature of being a workaholic. Hendrix Selodo & Ninera Rodriguez Tank's parents are openly affectionate towards Laurai, giving her hugs and kisses whenever they get a chance to see her. They see Laurai as a highly favourable political partner and romantic love interest. Hendrix would often times make lighthearted teasing remarks about the relationship between Tank and Laurai, occasionally embarrassing both of them in stereotypical fatherly fashion. Nenita would be more reserved when it comes to commenting on their relationship; but she demonstrates full support, often times cooking meals for them and giving them money to go out on dates together... even though Tank really doesn't need the money. Renée Selodo Relations between Laurai and Renée are akin to best friend levels. They both frequently converse with each other in Japanese (much to the bewilderment of Tank whenever he is around), and regularly enjoy Anime, Manga and Japanese cuisine together. Renée is aware of Laurai's relationship with Tank and shows full support, even providing her with tips and advice on things that make him happy. On several occasions, they can also be seen playing video games together; most notably, Pokemon! Javid Selodo At first, Javid's perception of Laurai was rife with envy and competitiveness. When they first met, Laurai single-handedly defeated him and his 4 other friends in a game of basketball. While Javid would tease Tank about his relationship with Laurai, she would mostly laugh along with Tank as he pokes fun at Javid's obsession for collecting basketball shoes, making reference to Imelda Marcos. Over time however, Javid and Laurai would warm up to each other as Laurai served as his basketball coach, inspiring him to play in the big leagues. Apollo Selodo & Lydia Perez Just like Tank's parents, his grandparents are supportive of Laurai's relationship with him. Although they are slightly less expressive towards Laurai when it comes to affections, they still love and respect her as if she were part of the family. They were skeptical of Laurai when they first met, perceiving her as a demonic ayakashi; but after hearing about how Tank saved her life and her declaration of loyalty to him, they granted Laurai the position of being Tank's guardian and made accommodations for her stay in the Selodo household. Trivia *Laurai's favourite school subjects include mathematics and calculus *Her favourite foods include fish, sushi, chicken, beef and ramen *Even though she is easily intoxicated, her favourite drink is vodka *Laurai's father's name is derived from the names of Russian assault rifle developers: **"Mikhail Kalashnikov" the inventor of the world-famous AK-47, along with its variants **"Vladimir Fyodorov" creator of the Fedorov Avtomat, the world's first assault rifle *Laurai's mother's name "Goyang Yan-ma" is a phonetic transcription of "Cat Demon" in Korean. Category:Characters Category:Main Characters